Confronting Peculiarity
by EmersFanFic
Summary: Stepping forward, he falls to his knees and raises his hands to ghost around the shaking body. Doing this puts him under the stream of water and he winces at the sudden temperature change; goosebumps developing atop his skin. Voice stern, Katsuki speaks up, "Oi, what the fuck are you doing showering with clothes on?" (Cover drawn by Pen-Inkk over on tumblr!)


He had been acting weird these past few weeks. Katsuki a year ago probably wouldn't have spotted his distanced behavior, but after All Might retired and they settled unsaid conflicts between one another, it allowed him and Deku to grow a fair friendship even if he kept to his loud and chaotic demeanor every so often. Deku's been focused this second year on improving his shooting style and tweaking the finer lines of his quirk's so has he himself, and all the while kept his optimistic aura present amongst their peers. So, as the months carried on, in the midst of their year something snapped. Unbeknownst to others, Deku wouldn't talk as much in class, contribute in conversations, smile, focus, carry on thoughts, and all of this drove Katsuki _mad_ because unlike his other friends, _he_ _noticed_. Of course, he hadn't jumped to any conclusions in the beginning.

Throughout Aizawa's class, the mop of a head is normally muttering, clicking pens, or tapping the eraser end of his pencil against the desk in his wild overflow of thoughts. That day, Katsuki realized he didn't hear any of it; the back of his mind wasn't ticking from the simple disruptions. But, for all he knew then, it was nothing of his concern. If anything, it was a breather for his subconscious.

While he relished the silence, what initially caught his eye was his class heading to lunch at the start of those weeks. He was alongside Shitty Hair, and aimlessly walking across them was Deku; his eyes glazed over, as if he were staring into an oblivion so enrapturing it caught the entirety of his attention, and his face held no expression if you compared it to his typical blinding smile. He stepped in front of the two, and Katsuki was about to bark out a comment when his words cut short. Deku's plain face was a facade; an exterior shell hiding away the trembling ache that was forming under his eyes and on the hollow of his sunken cheeks. He looked distraught. That was when he began watching Deku more frequently; eyeing him in between classes, in the middle of training, in their second year dormitory. It was as if the guy was living on an alternate plane of existence. He would barely get through classes with completing the bare minimum, then while he made small acknowledgements if Ochaco or Tenya were to ask any questions or include him in a conversation, they weren't real. He was distracted.

Today, Katsuki was going to confront him about his distance. He initially hadn't planned to prolong this interaction, but he needed to be certain there was something wrong with Deku before blatantly asking him about it.

Their session with Aizawa is dismissed and he stands up to search for his signature green mop, but he's too late and Deku's already out of the classroom. "_Shit_." he mutters under his breath, walking past the crowds and frantically searching the halls for his distressed friend. Of all times, today was not the day to disappear from him. Katsuki doesn't find him anywhere in the school, and by the time he leaves the main building, him and a few stragglers are left trudging about. He huffs, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans and makes his way to the dorms.

"Oi- Have you seen Deku?" He asks Kirishima who was lounging on the couch talking to Denki. Katsuki grips the armrest, his heart starting to beat faster. _He didn't like it, not one bit._

"Hey, Bakugou!"

"I think I saw Midoriya head down the elevator, man. Probably the washroom to take a shower or somethin'." Katsuki nods to Kirishima's response, exhaling sharply, and he turns around to trek towards the elevator. "_'Oh thank you, Red Riotfor your helpful intel_, _how could I ever repay you?_" Kirishima taunts across the room before the elevator doors close. Denki snickers nearby with a toothy grin. "Can it, asshat." Katsuki snarks, flipping them the bird as the doors slide shut.

He's left alone with his thoughts, which at the moment were growing in severity. What was he going to say to Deku once he found him? When it comes to emotions, he's never been the strongest at handling them himself, and especially towards others. It's the main reason he lashes out and in the process constructs a wall, separating him and those around him. Over the past year, Katsuki's grown better judgment over how much he yells, or says something he doesn't mean simply to protect some pitiful pride he imagines he acquires. Deku's helped him with that.

The elevator gradually slows to a stop and his body sways the slightest before the doors trudge open. He rounds the corner to enter the boy's washroom, immediately hearing the sound of water running. It could be anyone, he thinks to himself. As he gradually comes closer to the showers, the humidity dampens his clothes, sticking to his form like a second skin. Steam begins to thicken along with the general temperature of the room, his skin buds with water from the increasing heat. Passing the sinks and lockers, he glances around, trying to find clothes that deku could have left out. Once he reaches the source of the sweltering heat, no clothes had been hung or laid out.. No towel is displayed for drying, no shoes taken off, and no neatly folded clothes to change into. _The hell? _His chest tightens and he rotates his body to face the curtain shielding whomever was occupying the stall. Katsuki squats to the tiled floor and tilts his head to peek beneath the curtain. There were bare feet, shorts, and a blue hoodie he could never mistaken.

_Deku was in there_.

He hastily swipes the curtain aside, steam enveloping his sight as it rises to the ceiling. It hits his face in one large gush and he blinks repeatedly until he can finally make out the form of his partner. Sitting there on the floor was Deku, soaking wet from the cascading water above him. His legs are hiked up to his chest, arms wrapping around them and his head is tucked into the folds of his arms. The hoodie clings heavily to the curves of his hunched position. Katsuki frowns, his chest tightens as he notices Deku's trembling. His restraint was crumbling.

Stepping forward, he falls to his knees and raises his hands to ghost around the shaking body. Doing this puts him under the stream of water and he winces at the sudden temperature change; goosebumps developing atop his skin. Voice stern, Katsuki speaks up, "Oi, what the fuck are you doing showering with clothes on?" but the sodden boy did not respond. Katsuki's shirt starts sticking to his figure, water pulling the fabric taunt against his skin. His hair clumps to his forehead, scattered chunks drape across the curve of his nose and over his temples, dripping excess water onto his cheeks.

Katsuki opens his mouth to speak when Deku beats him to it with a muffled sob-

"Leave me alone, Kacchan."

He inhales sharply to the response, confounded to the broken voice that had spilled from the younger boy. Swallowing hard, Katsuki wills his fingers to move, to do _something_, and his hands find themselves resting at the sides of Deku's arms. Even if the two of them had gotten closer throughout the years, this touchy side was unfamiliar and disconcerting to Katsuki. However, in this instant he has no fucking clue what to do and putting his hands somewhere was the first thing to come to mind.

"De-"

"_I said _leave me alone. I don't want to talk to anyone right now." He's interrupted and watches as Deku tightens the hold around his legs, curling himself into a smaller ball. Katsuki's knees pang from the solid tile beneath him, but he ignores the discomfort and focuses on trying to get his friend to talk.

He's never seen him like this. Normally if Deku gets upset, it'll only last a few days until he's out of whatever mood he was in. After that, he'll openly apologize over his shortcomings in class and says that he's going to work twice as hard to improve. It was simply the way deku's mind worked. Except, right now to Katsuki it seemed as if Deku had given up all his determination and self worth. Katsuki wasn't going to just sit by and watch the guy self destruct.

"Deku-" He starts up again, but just as quickly, the younger flicks his head up and scowls at him.

"I don't want to fucking talk!" His eyes are pink, puffy and an onslaught of tears rivulet down his cheeks, "_Especially_ to you so _please_ leave me alone." He spits. Katsuki flinches away, chest tightening with the direct aggression. His words were harsh, but the expression hurt far worse than any punch he'd endured. From there, Deku's shoulders hunch over and rock violently to his muffled whines.

Katsuki felt as if he were suffocating, sitting in the shower with no progress whatsoever. He curses at himself because of _fucking _course he'd make it worse. Deku's current change of behavior was foreign to him. He could've done anything in the past months unknowingly to provoke this sudden downshift of mood, and the thought alone sends his pulse through his ears. Overwhelmingly, white hot guilt sears though his limbs at the thought he could have caused this. _What the hell had he done?_

Pursing his lips, he huffs, shifting his arms to grab Deku's head. Pulling it up and slapping the palms of his hands onto the younger's cheeks, he catches his unrequited attention. Deku's face is stunned, eyes wide from shock by Katsuki's actions and they bore themselves into his.

He takes, yet again, another deep breath and stares down fiercely. "Why're you upset." Katsuki says abruptly, straight to the point before Deku got the chance to raise his voice. The face in his hands crumbles, and he can feel the heart wrenching touch of tears trickle onto his thumbs.

"You." Midoriya croaks, voice cracking with the confession.

"Why." Softly, the question slips from his lips and everything around him falls silent. No longer is there the echo of water splashing onto the bathroom tiles, or the rapid beating of his heart pulsing throughout his body, just white noise overwhelming his senses as he waits for the dreaded response. Deku opens his mouth, then shuts it closed and shakes his head weakly. Katsuki raises Deku's gaze, brows furrowing and he repeats almost desperately, "_Why_."

"It's not-" His voice is hoarse as he tries to speak, "It's not your fault. I-It's just me and- and my stupid head and all my constant thoughts and it was one foolish musing tha-that got out of hand and i'm sorry for making you worry, it's not you it's me i'm fine you can just _go_ now-" Midoriya's rambling, and grabs onto Katsuki's wrists to pry them off his face as if it were burning, as if the touch was baring holes into the sockets of his cheeks. So Katsuki presses deeper until his fingertips touch wet locks of untamed hair. Deku attempts to free himself, but they are dampered and he eventually stops. His arms wrap themselves around his knees and he stares up at the guy who won't go away.

Flattening his lips, Katsuki watches as Deku begins to avoid eye contact. If he wasn't looking at him, then he was just cupping the guy's face. Cheeks warming up, he urges the attention with rubbing his thumbs warrily.

"You've been a wreck for about two weeks, Deku, tell me what's upsetting you so i can get this fucking _weight_ off my chest." He pleads, making sure his voice was gentle and in no way threatening when he spoke up. He's learned over the past year and a half that Deku overthinks, which means his ill-toned sentences can sometimes be misinterpreted. Fortunately, something Katsuki said registered to the green-mop and he blinks a few times before shifting his gaze up.

"I…" He ponders, cheeks warming beneath Katsuki's palms, "I can't tell you." he finally says.

"If you don't tell me, my hands are permanently stuck to the sides of your face, Deku." Deku's nose scrunches and Katsuki gets the suspicion that he's fighting himself once more. What was it that had such an impact, an internal war against himself, not telling him why he was worked up? Throwing out any sense of dignity, Katsuki bites hit lip because _fucking hell_ he had a reputation to uphold but he was so close to getting Deku to open up and if this is what gets him to, he wasn't going to wait another second. His voice catches in his throat as he edges closer and says,

"Please."

Deku's eyes water up and he sputters, "You're going to hate me. And I know you-you say that now but I mean for real this time, Kacchan." His heart wrenches itself inside his chest, an accumulation of feelings lurking themselves in the depths of his gut, to the tips of his fingers.

"I won't." He reassures with a nod, as if it held more meaning than presented.

Midoriya takes a second to collect himself. His eyes break away from Katsuki's but he doesn't pry because he knows they're forming their words and what they're going to say. Still not glancing up, he exhales slowly and deeply, releasing whatever was pent up in that head of his.

"I've always said that I look up to you because I aspire to be as great a hero as you. That's true, but- but lately i decided to acknowledge this feeling I'd been having. It was small, nothing too concerning until I realized that it was connected to you." Katuki can sense the increase of his heart rate when Deku addresses him. "Envy was my first thought, because why wouldn't I be envious of you? Your quirk is stupid powerful and you've gained such an impecable amount of control over it that now i'm starting to notice new style techniques you put into fighting and-" he shuts his mouth to swallow, eyes directed to the floor tiles, "and envy was always a thing i'd shove into the back of my mind. We strive to make each other better, so why would i feel that way if i continue to challenge your dorky competitions.

So-So i tried to take note of when I would begin to feel that way. It likes to settle itself somewhere in my stomach? But not only there, it sometimes puts itself in my legs while we're in training combat or hanging out in the dorm lounge." Deku stops talking and squeezes his legs. He mutters, "_God you're going to hate me_," to himself before parting his trembling lips to whisper, "I realized it wasn't a feeling I held within myself, but a feeling I had _about you_."

Katsuki's cheeks flush at the notion and everything begins to click into place in his head. Deku was afraid he'd reject him. He was afraid that out of all these years together, he'd sit back and dismiss any projection of feelings that Deku would have given him. Blinking, Katsuki takes a ragged breath inward.

"Out of all people, you're the one who knows how to fucking de-code me or some shit. You know I have this hard ass exterior because I suck at expressing myself." He says airily, not fully sure where's he's going but at this point he didn't care. "Did it ever occur that I'm extra harsh when it comes to you because I've built this big fucking wall to shield myself from some scary ass feelings I never felt like dealing with?" His cheeks feel as if they were _blazing_, and from the looks of it so were Deku's. He adds, "I'm not going to suddenly hate you if I learn you like me, Izuku, that's not how our relationship goes."

A chunk of hair falls over one of Deku's eyes, wet and heavy from the shower still pouring on the two, and Ketsuki releases a hand to move it from his line of sight. Deku sharply inhales when he does so, causing him to flush even more.

"I don't want to ruin the friendship I've worked so hard to gain with you." he confesses after the hand is returned to its original spot.

Katsuki's hands are now delving themselves deeper into the thick curls of Deku's hair, sensitive skin gently touching behind his ears and neck. He chuckles when water drips into his mouth, and he presses his fingers into the flesh of Deku's neck.

"I'm fucking soaked," he shakes his head, a soft smile making its way across his lips, "For real, what the fuck made you decide to take a shower with clothes on?"

Deku gives an airy laugh as well saying, "I thought it could clear my head. I've been.. Overwhelmed."

Katsuki finds himself looking away apprehensively, blush spreading itself across his face remembering exactly what has been on Deku's mind. He doesn't move though. Deku shuffles beneath his gasp, no longer occupied from crying.

"So.. What now?" Deku asks timidly, eyes reverting back and forth between Katsuki's vibrant red ones.

He huffs, "The fuck do you mean '_What now_'? Now, we're going to get out of this shower, go upstairs, and i'm taking you to my fucking room."

Deku's cheeks flush at the statement, but ne nods his head in response; grabbing onto Katsuki's outstretched hand that pulls him up to his feet. He turns off the shower and makes his way out of the washroom, hands never pulling apart.

The elevator dings, opening up to the main floor, and Katsuki instantly regrets this decision because Kirishima and Kaminari were still sitting in the lounge. Their heads flick towards them and simultaneously they bark out laughs.

"What happened?" Kaminari rubs the back of his hand against an eye, looking at his two friends who remain still in front of the elevator; both soaking wet and dripping water onto the floor. Katsuki growls, tugging Deku with him and they disappear around a corner. The two look at each other once more before bursting into fits of laughter.


End file.
